Minibars, more particularly minibar refrigerators, are used for refrigerating beverages and/or food and are generally smaller than commercial domestic refrigerators so that they require less installation space. This makes minibars ideal for use in hotel rooms, where there is little space available, yet the guest should nevertheless be provided with as much comfort as possible. For aesthetic reasons, and due to the limited space available, minibars are generally arranged in a hotel room cupboard.
Prior to the arrival of the guest, the minibar is prefilled with beverages which are available for the guest's consumption during his stay at the hotel. When the guest checks out of the hotel, he must state whether he consumed anything, and if so, what. Experience shows that many guests conceal the consumption of beverages, which results in a financial loss for the hotel.
GB 2 204 417 A describes a minibar weighing machine for weighing a minibar, which is connected to a hotel computer via a data line. The weight values determined by the minibar weighing machine are transmitted to the hotel computer via the data line. The hotel can check the weight of the minibar when the guest checks out and draw conclusions therefrom as to whether or not the guest has consumed products from the minibar.
With the previously described minibar weighing machine, it is disadvantageous that it has a large design. As a result thereof, retrofitting minibars with the minibar weighing machine is difficult, since there is only a small amount of space available in the cupboard housing the minibar to receive additional components, such as the minibar weighing machine. A further disadvantage of the minibar weighing machine is that it cannot be used to establish whether the guest has replaced products located in the minibar with other products of a lower price or lower value.